Baird Capital Reports Global Results and Optimistic Outlook

Chicago, January 28, 2016 – Baird Capital, the direct private investment arm of Baird, had an active year in 2015 for new and follow-on investments and exits.

Significant Activity in 2015During 2015, Baird Capital deployed over $130 million in 43 new or follow-on investments and realized over $270 million principally through 14 exits. The firm also bolstered its expertise by working more closely with experienced Operating Partners Richard Neff and Owen Sullivan. Baird Capital also added Senior Advisor Vikram Sharma, who brings more than 20 years of experience in the Technology sector.

"While the economic environment continues to be challenging across the globe, we found a number of investment opportunities in 2015 and were able to take advantage of the strong exit environment to generate liquidity for our investors," said Gordon Pan, President of Baird Capital. "We are very optimistic about 2016 – Entrepreneurs and business owners are attracted to partners that can bring more than just financial capital. They recognize that our approach, which combines global sector perspective with deep operating expertise, is unique within the lower middle market."

2016 Investment Outlook Moving into the New Year, the investment professional at Baird Capital are watching a number of compelling trends in the industrial, healthcare and technology and services sectors that are driving opportunities to invest.

In the industrial sector, traditional product manufacturers are evolving toward offering more comprehensive solutions to meet customers' needs – for example, providing both products and services. Companies with this mindset are better positioned to strive for increased productivity in the current environment of low overall growth.

It is also no secret that the ongoing challenge in the Healthcare sector is to balance the increasing demand for care with the need to contain costs. Globally, rising cost pressure will continue to drive innovation around new products and services. Companies with solutions that seek to reduce the overall cost of care while optimizing the patient outcome present compelling investment opportunities for Baird Capital.

In technology & services, the pace of technological change over the course of the last decade has catalyzed a profound shift in how businesses operate and is driving an even greater need for value-additive technology-enabled services.

"Our ability to invest in early stage to more mature companies across the U.S., U.K. and China gives us a more well-rounded perspective on the sectors in which we focus," said Pan. "We also believe that the global network we've built by investing across stages and geographies provides our management teams access to relationships and intellectual capital that is not typical for smaller, high growth companies."

About Baird Capital Baird Capital makes venture capital, growth equity and private equity investments in strategically targeted sectors around the world. Having invested in more than 290 companies over its history, Baird Capital partners with entrepreneurs and, leveraging its executive networks, strives to build exceptional companies. Baird Capital provides operational support to its portfolio companies through teams on the ground in Asia, a proactive portfolio operations team and a deep network of relationships which together strive to deliver enhanced shareholder value. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Baird Capital is the direct private investment arm of Robert W. Baird & Co. For more information, please visit BairdCapital.com.